It Isnt Easy...

[Smudge]

It Isn't Easy...

I guess I ought to consider myself lucky. I have local metal detector shop that carries most of the well known brands of detector, with samples on the shelf for people to play around with.

I went there this morning and literally spent three hours looking around and using some in the test garden, and I left the store empty handed.

It's not that I'm indecisive. I'm willing to shell out some serious cash ($1,000+) IF I think the machine is worth it.

I am not going to name any names. I refuse to trash any brand, especially when I have no real experience with them. That's not what I'm after here. It's just that in exploring this and other forums, when you read posts by people using these top of the line machines, and you compare it to people using mid-range detectors ($500-$800), it turns out they complain about the same things.

Even with all those bells and whistles, they're still digging a ton of trash like can slaw, pull tabs, and bottle caps. They dig them because they don't want to pass up gold. But heck, folks using the mid-range detectors complain about the same thing.

The thing for me is, if I'm going to shell out over $1,000 for a top of the line detector, it had better give me a lot more for my money than a $500 detector will.

But in reviewing these posts, I don't know, it just doesn't seem to be happening for a lot of users. Is it lack of experience? Sure they post some great finds. But so does everyone else. Sure, I know, luck and swinging your detector over the right spot is the majority of the battle.

I'm going to wrap this up, I swear, but here's my issue. Right now I swing the humble Tesoro Compadre. I played with other detectors but liked this one because it was simple to use, ran great for gold at 12" kHz, used a 5.75" coil which is perfect for the trashy areas I like to hunt.

But still, I'd like an edge in my hunts and thought about upgrading. I'm looking at all these detectors and asking myself "do I need a TID screen?" No, it'd be nice, but if I get a solid signal, I'm digging it no matter what the screen says. "Do I want a depth meter?" Nope, they're notoriously inaccurate. "Do I want a bigger coil?" Not typically.

So folks, please straighten me out. I feel like I'm missing the big picture here. These companies wouldn't be offering these high end machines if they weren't a cut above the rest. But if the big machine can't tell the difference between a pull tab and gold ring or a bottle cap and quarter any better than a mid-range machine, what's the point?

Thanks for reading all this. I'd really like to know what you folks think. Gonna go put an ice pack on my head now.

 

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[gleaner1]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Can I drag an old dog outa the pen, I feel like typing and this is good stuff. I am going to sound like such a washed up cliche' artist that I am almost going to blush a bit.... NOT. The crappiest tector in my hands is going to do better than the "best" tector in your hands, this assuming you don't have much experience tectin. Right? I have never used an Etrac but I will guarantee that I would want one when and if I go full time tectin, in order to feed my family and provide a good home to them. I love them. Etracs that is.

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Not true, Minelabs ability to null on iron, to give a signal when a good target is sitting beside a piece of iron, the "silent search" feature of the Sov GT, the 17 frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 25.5 kHz of BBS, and 28 frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 100 kHz of FBS all give you an advantage over the lower priced detectors when hunting for gold jewelry....

Also not completely true. Having used the minelabs and mxt, g2, and other mid range metal detectors, the minelabs suffer on smaller gold items compared to some of the lower priced metal detectors available. And considering that there are more small gold jewelry items than larger pieces, sensitivity to small gold can potentially turn up more gold pieces. Ones that the minelabs won't even see. But, the minelabs handle minerals and saltwater really well and the id provide a lot of useful information.

The problem is there are too many variables such as location and personal preferences to give these black and white answers. That's why it is helpful to have more than one metal detector when possible, though not critical to having fun and finding some good items. Just stay away from the utlra cheap chinese imports and go with one of the major brands.

Kai, So far with my excals I have found a tiny .06 gram 14k gold ring, tiny gold earrings and just the lobster clasp broke off a gold chain that weighed less than 2 grams, all were buried over 8 inches deep in wet sand and have found many other gold rings that weighed in the 2-4 gram range, so not sure just how small you mean......

 

[kai_gold]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Kai, So far with my excals I have found a tiny .06 gram 14k gold ring, tiny gold earrings and just the lobster clasp broke off a gold chain that weighed less than 2 grams, all were buried over 8 inches deep in wet sand and have found many other gold rings that weighed in the 2-4 gram range, so not sure just how small you mean......

Treasure Hunter,

Congrats on those items. I have not metal detected in Florida, so I can't speak from personal experience as I have only lived in the West. From what I have read, it seems that your ground out there is less mineralized inland and at the beach so I would expect better sensitivity to smaller items out your way. I currently live in Arizona and doing some side by side comparisons of post type earrings and some chains while trying different settings and even running the explorer wide open I have found that there are several targets the explorer misses that the mxt or g2 will pick up.

Even among targets there is no black and white hard rules as two similarly sized pieces of gold can behave differently due to slight differences in composition and shape. Each target and scenario can be different. Is it possible to find small gold with the minelabs? Sure. But are you going to miss some that could be found with another metal detector? I believe so, particularly where I live. Problem is that even if a person finds some pieces of small gold, this does not mean they are finding every piece. There is no way of knowing what might have been missed. There is no way to prove that everything has been found with out sifting the entire area.

My point has not been to pit one metal detector against another. It is to say that based on my experiences I have found mid-priced metal detectors to be pretty darn good and if someone could only afford one metal detector, they shouldn't feel completely handicapped by owning a mid range detector. If I felt that a mid-price detector greatly outperformed my explorer, then I would no longer use an explorer but this has not been the case. Likewise, if I felt the explorer was in every way better than the g2, then I would not own the g2.

My personal advice to someone wanting to buy a more expensive metal detector is to use your tax return to buy several used metal detectors that interest you and spend time getting to know them and trying them out side by side on targets. Sell off the ones that you do not like. After using an explorer for several years I decided to do this and tried a bunch of different metal detectors. In the end I am using an explorer, g2 and gold bug 2 (want to know what your missing, try the gold bug 2 at a tot lot). If I lived closer to the coast, I would want an excalibur.

My preferences:
Explorer: When I need max depth searching for silver coins or when I take a trip to the coast.
G2: General park hunting, trashy areas, or to cover a lot of ground as it is light and fun to swing.
Gold bug 2: Prospecting and tot lots (only when I am in the mood to really clean out the tot lot. found lots of small jewelry items this way).

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

kai_gold,

I hope you know I did not take your post personally, I disagreed with it based on my experience......Now you being in Arizona is interesting as I wish to retire to Southern Arizona, I have a very close friend living in Bullhead City across the river from Laughlin Nv and I have visited that area. my plan is to move to that area when I retire. I want to hunt the Colorado River as well as hunt for gold and silver is the old mining areas in the area, plus I will be less than 6 hours to the beaches of Sothern Cal, and only 4 hours to Utah, Utah is probably my favorite state.......

 

[kai_gold]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

I've passed through Bullhead City a number of times and seen the beaches along the river. Looks like a good place to detect and seems like it would be a nice place to live. But then, I think it would be fun to live in Florida and stand a chance of find some old spanish coins too.

As for our differences in experiences, I think it is helpful for new detectorists to see that experiences do differ for a number of reasons. Thanks for disagreeing with me as I am happy to learn that the excalibur finds such small gold in florida.

 

[Smudge]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

I want to thank everybody for their input on this thread.

For what its worth, I've owned a lot of machines trying to find the right ones for me. I keep coming back to the Tesoro brand. They just work for me. Please understand I am not knocking any other brand. I know they all make good detectors. Its just personal preference.

I know the owners of ETracs and V3i's will likely smoke me in the field. But that's ok. As I get more experience, maybe I'll want the extras.

I wanted to try a TID detector and just purchased a DeLeon. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with it.

Thanks to all of you again. It's always fun to get the complete range of ideas that only this forum can provide!

 

[xdanthemanx]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Its simple, doesnt matter what machine you end up with , as long as you know how to use it

I have the etrac at the moment and i love it, but i dont thin these higher cost machines offer much more than out of the box and go.....
i had xlt before this and that machine was just as good in my mind
saginawian frequently would show up with a tesoro silver umax and pull stuff out of the ground all day right next to me, right down to tiny civil war uniform buttons at 8"

pick one, learn how everything on it works, put in a ton of hours on it and stuff will start showing up

no one here can offer proof positive that thier machine or brand works any better or deeper, they all have give and takes, little more depth , lots of noise...........picks up silver better but picks up emf on overcast days etc....

Dan

 

[George (MN)]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

I like the AT Pro like ThTx as a best value because:

It can accurately ID a dime 7" deep in moderately bad soil.

The 15 kHz frequency gives better sensitivity to gold. The place with the best ratio for gold vs pulltabs is in waist deep water & this detector can be used in up to 10 feet deep water. Plus many more reasons listed in my other posts.

I only recommend digging everything in parks & schoolyards if that can still seem like a fun hobby rather than painful work. 500 pulltabs, 300 pieces of can slaw, a couple hundred rusty nails, hundreds of screwcaps, hundreds of bits of foil. Is it worth it for anything less than a gold ring, which is hardly a guaranteed
find? It's up to you to decide what is best for you. Best wishes, George (MN)

 

[Lakemonster]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

I totally get this thread.

For instance, I own a Tesoro Cibola and a AT Pro.

People ask me which of them is better. My answer is "better at what?".

 

[sandtrout]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

On this forum there's jerV3 (absolute killer with a DFX and now a Spectra V3i), Pl8tman (White's M6) and already at the 99 rings mark for this year, and Crazyjarhead (ACE 250 with large coil). Three different detectors and at three different price ranges and they all know their machines and make great finds. My questions is if a machine costs twice as much is it twice as good? or just 10% or 20% or 30%?

I've been using the ACE 250 and the Vaquero and am learning them inside out and the question for me becomes, "If I've learned these 2 detectors and they're just great, what must a detector with VDI or more bells and whistles be like?" Lots of people have the DFX but how many are as good as jerV3 finding relics and 99 rings so far this year? Come on...only in my wildest dreams but they go to good locations and I'm mostly at local parks. I think it comes down to the proper fit...like shoes....lots of size 12 but they don't all feel the same. I'll try on a lot until I find one that feels great, then I'll wear it out. Lots of people tout the beep and dig machines but I think it has a lot to do with "proper fit" for that person. I think it's the same for Etrac people...."proper fit". I've considered one just to play with and to "try it on for size" and will do all in my capacity to LEARN it but it will come down to how it "feels". If I were starting out as a young man in this hobby it would be about depth but at my age I'm no longer interested in DIGGING DEEP so I guess I won't be getting the expensive machines...my only complaint about the Vaquero is that I like 6 inches (no pun intended) or less with the emphasis on LESS (means I'm lazy and want easy shallow finds!) and that Vaquero goes deep....do I really want to go 9"+ for coins? Thirty seven years of carrying mail and my joints are worn out. Either way, both the ACE and the Vaquero FIT...thank God!!! and having fun is what it's all about and they both do that for me.

 

[UTcoinshootR]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

I started out with an ace250. I liked it, but it would get too much interference in old neighborhoods and as a result I lost a lot of depth. The DFX is so much more tolerant and if its not, I can program it to be. The VDI scale is more accurate too. I can almost always tell a difference in a zincoln and a copper penny. There are a few advantages to some of the expensive machines. The extra depth on an etrac is pretty undeniable. It just comes down to if your gonna use it enough for these little differences to make it worth it.

 

[TerryC]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

This entire thread boils down to KNOW YOUR MACHINE! $5000, or $500, or $50.If you don't know the machine it aint worth the price. The most important feature of ANY machine is the sound. What is it SAYING to you? When your ears can filter the different , subtle changes in the noise, you are the WINNER! TTC